Having the site down allowed for a tremendous amount of backend work to be done (a more thorough IT explanation in the next post). For those not familiar with that side of things, an analogy would be that we were constantly maintaining, patching and repairing a crumbling building. The last few days enabled the old building to be demolished, new foundations laid, materials tested and then assembled.

Now, we can, without constant distraction,...

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Hope no one minds but I'm going to close/lock this thread and correspond directly with the posters above via email. Juggling a few too many things atm, still IT stuff :dunno: .

goulaigan will be first on my list of emails. The email will be called rsync nightmare.

:) Thanks again for the above,
Pat

P.S. That busy that Sarah and I haven't even had a beer together in the last fortnight :O

The following problems should only affect a tiny fraction of users.
If using Google Chrome, you may find ; upon registration, after solving the Captcha or 'Sortable' correctly you are told you are incorrect; not being able to login using your proper username and password; when posting, finding the 'Add Files' button not working.

Solution/s

This problem is extremely rare although a few users on other phpBB forum software...

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Got a strange one Pat & Sarah. I received a My first post notification so I clicked on it...It took me to page 324 . Seems to be 327 pages :think: :think: :think: Tried it 3x and same result..I went back to yesterdays email and the notification went through properly ..
J

As mentioned in the post 2017 - A Major New Year for the Site , an incredible amount of work has been spent on the new site structure, which will make the information on BIABrewer.info fast and easy to find.

In this thread, I'll try to explain the coming changes in a series of posts, which I'll endeavour to write every few days or so. These updates will include, but not be limited to:

Why 2017 and Not...

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NOTE: IF YOU USE GMAIL, PLEASE ADD OUR WEBMASTER EMAIL TO YOUR LIST OF SAFE SENDERS
Hi there shetc and thanks for your questions.

In the temporary skin (the one with green header) active topics can be changed at the bottom. In the Gold skin, this option is accessed by clicking the filter button arrowed in the pic below BUT that button is failing (see Update below).

In the new site structure, recipes will be much easier to find but I like your idea of being able to search for posts with...

Planning to use Bru'n Water to calculate my water profiles instead of 5.2 pH stabilizer. I will be using a carbon filter and will have Ward Labs analyze a filtered sample to input on Bru'n Water.
Is this a reasonable method to treat my water?
Which pH meters are popular?

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I just moved so my old water report is no longer good. I haven't had a chance to get a full report on my new water so today I used aquarium test straps to find my GH and KH. I plugged these into the brewers friend advanced water profile and was able to figure out my salt additions there. I will be brewing tomorrow and am interested in seeing how it works out. I have a thermoworks ph meter.

I usually don't brew FVM, I save some of the total water and do a dunk or two often I don't even heat the sparge water and it still moves my efficiency from 65 - 66% to closer to 80%.

I use a standard water calculator to calculate the additions to the volume of water I actually mash with.
All I do with the sparge water is ensure the alkalinity is in the 20 - 50 range but do not other treatments..

Is there some way I can improve my procedure?

Many thanks. Aamcle

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I want to encourage you to use that book. The BIABacus WILL scale the grain and hops automatically :thumbs:

I was tinkering with what little I know about this recipe, my best guess is that it's for a 1.057 OG, is that right? That would put the grain bill at 6231 g, 26.6 L at VAW and 23 L into packaging and you could expect a 82% efficiency in kettle.

It will work in full-volume brewing (pure BIAB) in some waters but not others.

Your first step is to buy a pH roll (see bottom of this page) and see what pH your mashes are currently at.

If too high, then use acidulated malt or something like phosphoric acid to get your pH right. Get the pH strips first though and do the measurements. Water adjustments are something you should usually creep into slowly.

I finally decided it was time to start controlling the water aspect of my brewing, especially as I felt a had the other main factors under control. Decided to go the route of RO water (from my local Wholefoods), and calcium chloride, gypsum and acidulated malt from the LHBS (yea, I finally have one!). Using the Bru'n Water calculator, TDS-EZ METER and Duotest pH strips.

I have brewed Dr Smurto's Golden Ale (a Superbowl party success story) and the BCS California Common. These beers are...

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Great post shetc :salute:.

Definitely something almost all new brewers don't need to worry about however, when you get to the stage you are at, it does open up another world of exploration and fun. The RO world is clean and sometimes too clean. I brew my beers with RO now but some of them have a hollow in the middle of them which I haven't worked out what salt will 'fill' it with yet. I need to brew more often to fix that or just wait for guys like you to teach me how to fill it :peace:.

hello, a complete newbie here..... Got most of my equip around for a MINIbiab batch. However our well water is very hard, leaves lots of deposits in a pot when I boil it. Should I plan on using bottled water of some type? Note, our water does taste very good if that helps at all. Andy

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If you can get a water report for the Magnesium/Calcium/Sulfate/Chloride levels you can dilute your Good water with Rain or RO water to have perfect Brewing Water.

Of Course, if the water is good tasting look for London England Ale recipes, since they NEED hard, High Mineral Content.

I live in Auckland and our water supply is pretty good other than approx. .8 to 1.3 ppm of chlorine. As I work for a water company I'm in the process of getting my hands on a activated carbon filter to treat the water before using to brew but in the meantime I'll boil the water the night before. My question is, do I need to add anything to the liquor after boiling/passing through a filter?

I'm not too concerned with re-creating famous water profiles yet so any info would be much...

I'm planning to do my first AG and first BIAB brew at the weekend and am wondering whether I need to do any water additions (salt/acids etc.)? I brew with rainwater from our tank at home in Perth, WA and am planning on making a London style porter, so there is a bit of chocolate/crystal malt and roasted barley in the grain bill. I've read that rainwater is effectively a blank slate for mineral salts etc. and this affects the enzyme activity and taste to a certain extent, but given...

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Jeff, the PDF is a good write-up. It shows Campden Tablets work well(<1minute).

Those Guys do know the difference between Shinola and that other Stuff.

I've just had my tap water tested at an aquarium shop and it came up with pH 8.1. I read somewhere that the ideal pH is 5.6 (ish?). I live in Pembrokeshire, South Wales and believe the water to be soft (little limescale build up in kettles, etc). Should i treat my brewing water and if so with what?

Thanks all,
James

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I seem to remember those particular ones are either difficult to source in the UK, or are very expensive.
Maybe Bob needs to add these to his cheese winners awards!

Before anybody gets excited about partial pressures and reaction equilibria I feel that I must point out that I have trouble chewing gum and walking!

What I've gleaned seems to focus on old style 3V systems not on FVM.

My process is this -

Mash in reserving some water for two dunk sparge.
Mash as required.
Remove bag and dunk sparge.
Add the sparge to the kettle.

All very standard if not pure full volume.

Do I treat the full volume of water to reduce alkalinity or do
I have to further...

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PP I've read your reasoning as to why FVM doesn't benefit from sparging and I believe you have over looked something.

The sugars from 5 to 6 kg of grain will dissolve in 20liters of water as readily as they would in 30liters. I can not persuade my self that their solubility coefficients are such that they suffer any issues at these concentrations.

That's largely beside the point, the grain bed acts like a spong retaining wort and sugars. A sparge simply flushes the most of retained wort from...

I've gotten quite a good water analysis from a friendly chemist at my local water plant. My water is very soft, and I would like to amend it with a touch of gypsum (calsiumsulfate), to bring up those two ions. I just wanted to check my thought pattern here: I will calculate the addition to the final amount of liquid left in the kettle, yes?

I have been learning to use and it's quite handy once you understand what's what.

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Getting back to this water stuff. One thing I can't get my mind around is this: when calculating mineral additions in BW, I calculate the mineral amounts based on the TWN, but once I'm done boiling I might have only 60% liquid of that left, so won't I end up with hugely concentrated amount of minerals in that smaller volume of wort?

Found this response today from the Martin, figured it would be a great addition to this thread.

Has anyone test the Ph range of mash ?
How does the liquid to grist ratio affect the mash compared with traditional liquid to grist ratios ?

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Just my 2 (euro)cents :p
Best and quickest way is to use decent test papers. And it comes from somebody, who was using pH meters. For us it's really the best and convenient way to take measurements.
This plus monitoring water 'source' stats (they can change during the year), should result in comfy solution for enzymes to break the starches :)

I have scoured the internet for details on water and calculators on what I need to add to get a reasonable (for brewing) water profile.

I have 'moderate' hard water with a ph of 7.25 (analysis here .. Derby Centre but all calculations seen to ask for ppm values of minerals etc. not found in my water report - so all calculations fail ... :think:

So my question is basically given wha\t info I can get from severn trent water what do I need to add for my tap water to become the 5.2ph...

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Hold on guys, we are forgetting the beauty of pure BIAB!!!

Remember in pure BIAB, you add all water needed in the beginning. This makes things really simple. The addition of grains doesn't make that much difference. And, there is a lot of misinformation in this area. Crystal grains affect the pH more than dark grains for example.

As for pH measuring instruments, you will need a pH meter (and know how to use it) or the correct type of pH strips.

Hi!
My last brew, a SMASH with Pale Ale malt and Cascade hops (homegrown) has a harsh bitterness that you stays on the tongue for 5-10 seconds after you drink it, although i didn't use so much hops: 50 grams of Cascade as 60, 25 and 5 min aditions, for 4 kg of malt . The smell is also a little bit strange, i can't asociate it with nothing :(
Could that be a sign that my water is too hard, with to much carbonate?
I can't do a water test because it cost to much (the price is bigger that 25 kg of...

I have a solar hot water system on my brew shed. It seemed like a great idea when i was getting it and right now the water comes out at about 65 degrees straight from the tap (i removed the tempering valve)

Since i have been using it my efficiencies seem to be down. Im not a sticklier for eff, but I used to always hit hte numbers that the calculator & brewmate told me i would get. Lately i've been down every time.

The tank is a steel/ ceramic tank and it has a magnesium sacrifical annode....

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So FWIW I taste tested the solar heater water once cool, and it tasted fine. Possibly better than our normal tap water, which I generally find unpleasant.

I went ahead a tried a BIAB with the hot tap water which was around 65'C, so it took very little heating to get up to the 72'C required for pitching the grain. I used 10g of gypsum since I'm brewing an ESB style, calculated based on some Brisbane water (Mt Crosby) profile averages.

Hello!
Recently while planing my new brews I considered to use some water treatment . I am convinced that is beneficial but as I read more I am getting more confused also.
As far as I read I 've understood that is a quite complicated subject and with wrong use you can end with disaster .
Have you any opinions or suggestions on that subject.

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I've started using this web based tool that Kia made, it closely matches the EZ spreadsheet. You can use it for free and you can keep up to 5 profiles . If you join, your recipes will interface with it.

I like the 'water target selection' and the 'source water, GH & kH water report'.

You can do your own home water testing and plug the numbers into the calculator;

Just picked up a pH meter from Austin Home Brew Supply (the price was right) so now I can check my mash pH. Although I've never worried about pH before, get good conversion, and my beer tastes excellent, I've always wondered if it could be better . I tried the paper strips but discerning the shades of color between 5.0 and 5.4 was beyond the ability of my old eyeballs. :dunno:

I've been wanting to do a little experiment involving the mash pH of a full volume BIAB for quite some time now. The opportunity finally presented itself today and I was able to do a modified version of the experiment I had planned.

If you've read around the interwebs long enough, you've surely come across threads regarding the mash pH and how it should ideally fall within some range, lets say 5.2-5.5. Most threads you read about water treatments and predicted mash pH's are assuming a...

G'day everyone,
I'm looking into getting a pH meter while the Aussie dollar is good, and was wanting advice on whether or not to get a meter with auto temp comp? I'm looking at either the Hanna 98107 or 98108(with atc).
I noticed that the one with atc only has a range to 50 deg C, so I assume you would have to collect some wort and cool to test.
I hope some of you will be able to chime in with some of your experiences with either type of meter.
Cheers :salute:

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Thanks for the replies guys, look like I'll go for one with atc. :thumbs:

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